Krishna Consciousness

Space debris, comets and asteroids threaten Earth

MOSCOW. (Andrei Kislyakov for RIA Novosti) - Humankind has created a major problem: space debris, now threatening long-term space travel. So much space junk has accumulated that the international community must take urgent action to prevent major accidents at high altitude and on Earth.

Space debris denote manmade objects in orbit around Earth that no longer serve any useful purpose but which endanger operational satellites, primarily manned spacecraft. In some cases, space junk may threaten Earth during reentry because some fragments do not burn up completely and can hit houses, industrial facilities and transport networks.

Right now, 40 million fragments of space debris weighing several thousand metric tons circle Earth. In mid-February, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) reaffirmed the importance of guiding principles to prevent the formation of space debris for all nations.

On December 17, 2007, the UN General Assembly passed its Resolution 62/101 stipulating recommendations on enhancing the practice of states and international intergovernmental organizations in registering space objects.

Concerted international efforts and the dangers of hypothetical space debris crashes will make it possible for humankind to cope with this problem in the long term. However, Earth is still threatened by asteroids and various comets.

Scientists are particularly concerned about the potentially hazardous asteroid 99942 Apophis, which will fly close to Earth in 2029. Russian astronomer Sergei Smirnov said the asteroid with a diameter of 600 meters spelled nothing good for geostationary telecommunications platforms, due to be launched by that time.

In 2012, Apophis will pass close enough to Earth, enabling scientists to more accurately calculate its 2029 orbit.

Astronomers estimate that at least one out of the 100,000 small planets or asteroids, discovered since 1801, annually approaches Earth. Moreover, U.S. scientists have recently solved a discrepancy which may spell extremely negative consequences for our civilization.

It is common knowledge that a new comet annually enters the solar system. Judging by the average lifespan of comets, about 3,000 of them fly through the solar system each year. In reality, astronomers register only 25 comets.

Scientists seem to have solved this contradiction. This discrepancy between theoretical calculations and practical observations is explained by the fact that many comets cannot be detected by optical systems.

It appears that such objects are created when a celestial body's nucleus loses most of its water due to evaporation. This makes new comets too dark to be observed through optical telescopes and a potential threat to planet Earth.

The latest studies of terrestrial and lunar craters show that most of them were gouged by comets. This news is not very encouraging either.

Vedic Perspective

Adi 2.10 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Is the Supreme Personality of Godhead                       

                               TEXT

   prakasa-visese tenha dhare tina nama
   brahma, paramatma ara svayam-bhagavan

                          SYNONYMS

   prakasa--of manifestation; visese--in variety; tenha--He; dhare--holds; tina--three; nama--names; brahma--Brahman; paramatma--Paramatma (Supersoul); ara--and; svayam--Himself; bhagavan--the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

                           TRANSLATION

   In terms of His various manifestations, He is known in three features, called the impersonal Brahman, the localized Paramatma and the original Personality of Godhead.

                             PURPORT

   Srila Jiva Gosvami has explained the word bhagavan in his Bhagavat-sandarbha. The Personality of Godhead, being full of all conceivable and inconceivable potencies, is the absolute Supreme Whole. Impersonal Brahman is a partial manifestation of the Absolute Truth realized in the absence of such complete potencies. The first syllable of the word bhagavan is bha, which means "sustainer" and "protector." The next letter, ga, means "leader," "pusher" and "creator." Va means "dwelling" (all living beings dwell in the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord dwells within the heart of every living being). Combining all these concepts, the word bhagavan carries the import of inconceivable potency in knowledge, energy, strength, opulence, power and influence, devoid of all varieties of inferiority. Without such inconceivable potencies, one cannot fully sustain or protect. Our modern civilization is sustained by scientific arrangements devised by many great scientific brains. We can just imagine, therefore, the gigantic brain whose arrangements sustain the gravity of the unlimited number of planets and satellites and who creates the unlimited space in which they float. If one considers the intelligence needed to orbit man-made satellites, one cannot be fooled into thinking that there is not a gigantic intelligence responsible for the arrangements of the various planetary systems. There is no reason to believe that all the gigantic planets float in space without the superior arrangement of a superior intelligence. This subject is clearly dealt with in the Bhagavad-gita(15.13) where the Personality of Godhead says, "I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit." Were the planets not held in the grip of the Personality of Godhead, they would all scatter like dust in the air. Modern scientists can only impractically explain this inconceivable strength of the Personality of Godhead.
   The potencies of the syllables bha, ga and va apply in terms of many different meanings. Through His different potential agents, the Lord protects and sustains everything, but He Himself personally protects and sustains only His devotees, just as a king personally sustains and protects his own children, while entrusting the protection and sustenance of the state to various administrative agents. The Lord is the leader of His devotees, as we learn from the Bhagavad-gita, which mentions that the Personality of Godhead personally instructs His loving devotees how to make certain progress on the path of devotion and thus surely approach the kingdom of God. The Lord is also the recipient of all the adoration offered by His devotees, for whom He is the objective and the goal. For His devotees the Lord creates a favorable condition for developing a sense of transcendental love of Godhead. Sometimes He does this by taking away a devotee's material attachments by force and baffling all his material protective agents, for thus the devotee must completely depend on the Lord's protection. In this way the Lord proves Himself the leader of His devotees.
   The Lord is not directly attached to the creation, maintenance and destruction of the material world, for He is eternally busy in the enjoyment of transcendental bliss with His internal potential paraphernalia. Yet as the initiator of the material energy as well as the marginal potency (the living beings), He expands Himself as the purusa-avataras, who are invested with potencies similar to His. The purusa-avataras are also in the category of bhagavat-tattva because each and every one of them is identical with the original form of the Personality of Godhead. The living entities are His infinitesimal particles and are qualitatively one with Him. They are sent into this material world for material enjoyment to fulfill their desires to be independent individuals, but still they are subject to the supreme will of the Lord. The Lord deputes Himself in the state of Supersoul to supervise the arrangements for such material enjoyment. The example of a temporary fair is quite appropriate in this connection. If the citizens of a state assemble in a fair to enjoy for a short period, the government deputes a special officer to supervise it. Such an officer is invested with all governmental power, and therefore he is identical with the government. When the fair is over, there is no need for such an officer, and he returns home. The Paramatma is compared to such an officer.
   The living beings are not all in all. They are undoubtedly parts of the Supreme Lord and are qualitatively one with Him; yet they are subject to His control. Thus they are never equal to the Lord or one with Him. The Lord who associates with the living being is the Paramatma, or supreme living being. No one, therefore, should view the tiny living beings and supreme living being to be on an equal level.
   The all-pervading truth that exists eternally during the creation, maintenance and annihilation of the material world and in which the living beings rest in trance is called the impersonal Brahman.

 

 

A Defence of True Love and the Making of Vows

Column by John Jalsevac

February 18, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - One week before I was to be married I stood on a train platform in Washington D.C., basking in the balmy glow of the early-May morning. I was returning from an award ceremony with a $2,000 check burning a hole in my pocket, the fruits of a win in a collegiate essay writing contest. My thoughts were wandering pleasantly to the various ways in which that sum could be used to spruce up what promised to be an otherwise modest honeymoon, when a friendly looking chap asked me the time, and then struck up a conversation.

Our exchange followed the predictable path of pleasantries, and in due time I mentioned that I was about to be married. At that point the man paused, looked off into the distance and mused, "Yes, I've done that a couple times." And then he laughed heartily to (or perhaps at) himself, and said "good luck," in the much the same way I suppose the hangman does to his victim - as in, "It's nothing personal. I hope that we'll both meet again, in pleasanter circumstances, on the Other Side": as if there was no doubt but that we would both end up on the other side - in this case, in divorce and disillusionment.

It's the sort of thing I got all the time before I took the vows. "A young fellow like you, getting married? Why? Hold off a few years. Enjoy your youth. Wait until you're established and can afford to get divorced. Then think about getting married. Ha ha!" Or, in the words of Lewis Grizzard, "I don't think I'll get married again. I'll just find a woman I don't like and give her a house."

It's the sort of stuff that makes you laugh, and then cry, all in one go. But with over half of all marriages ending in divorce, I suppose it shouldn't come as a surprise that so many feel this way.

Of course, we still talk a lot about love and marriage these days, but nobody seems to believe a word of it: for many marriage is more of a hobby than a vocation, something that you pick up when the mood hits you, and put down when the mood passes. Its success or failure doesn't particularly matter in the long run, since it's just something you were just tinkering with in the first place, like the piano, or model airplanes.

But then we hear about someone like Carlos Abarca, whose story stirs up in our minds a forgotten memory of something more, of a love that does not wither in the unpredictable, gusting winds of our moods or of unexpected changes in external circumstances, a love that is permanently safeguarded by the sturdy walls of the fiercest and most irrevocable of vows.

Carlos Abarca, in case you have not heard, is a Chilean man whose wife has been in a coma for 14 years. His rather simple and unobtrusive story has captured headlines for one very good reason: he has been faithful to his wife. He has visited her on a daily basis throughout those 14 years, and now that he has retired from the Chilean police force, he visits her three times a day. And he is neither angry, nor resentful, nor ready to give up. On the contrary.

"My affection will always be focused on her, I have never doubted it," he told the Chilean daily El Mercurio, which broke the story.  "I don't seek for more from life than caring for her.  There is nothing more to do." The affection he has for his wife, says Abarca, is "stronger than ever.  I want to protect her, care for her, make sure she is well, that she lacks nothing."

This is the sort of story that, according to the standards of the age (for which we should all have no patience), is absurd. A decade and a half spent fawning over a comatose vegetable? Move on. Get another woman. Enjoy yourself. Don't waste your life. Be groovy, man. She would want you to. It is the same set of standards that led to the killing of Terri Schiavo by a husband that was already shacking up with another woman. Indeed, many news reports are naturally comparing the two cases.

We are astonished at Abarca's single-minded devotion to his wife, a devotion that, by his own testimony, is not only unabated by the long years of unreciprocated daily sacrifice, but has actually increased. And yet we ought not to forget that Abarca is doing nothing except what he promised to do. He is doing nothing beyond what he said he would do, when he stood with his wife at the altar however many years ago, and vowed to love her until death.

Carlos Abarca is merely keeping his word.

I find Abarca's choice of words revealing. He said, "My affection will always be focused on her, I have never doubted it." Do you see what he is saying here? He is saying that he believes in himself in the only way that really matters. He says he has never doubted that his affection will always be reserved for his wife. He believes, in short, that when he makes a vow, he will, in fact, keep it.

How many of us can say that? Most of us wouldn't give ourselves so much credit. Chesterton once described this distinctly modern problem, observing: "The man who makes a vow makes an appointment with himself at some distant time or place. The danger of it is that himself should not keep the appointment. And in modern times this terror of one's self, of the weakness and mutability of one's self, has perilously increased, and is the real basis of the objection to vows of any kind."

These days, whenever we make a vow, we seem to make it in a slanted sort of way, with abundant caveats. "I will love this woman (man) till death do us part…unless it gets too difficult, or unless the mood passes, or unless another, more sumptuous specimen of the female (male) sex comes along." But a vow made in this fashion is not a vow at all. It is a farce.

In the modern world we call this attitude "freedom," or, in the case of relationships, "free love," which is as stupid a contradiction of terms as there ever was. "As if a lover ever had been, or ever could be, free," says Chesterton. "It is the nature of love to bind itself, and the institution of marriage merely paid the average man the compliment of taking him at his word."

It is at in such moments, when we encounter great men like Abarca, who have made a vow and remained unmoved, even when to keep the vow became seemingly impossible; who have remained faithful, even when all the hope for a lifetime of happiness with which the vow was made has been dashed by an unforeseen tragedy; it is at such moments that we know we have caught a glimpse of true freedom. Abarca is one of the great men, who has understood that he is free enough to give his freedom away, to bind himself irrevocably to some cause or ideal or person. And that, of course, is the only freedom worth having.

Being close to nature helps longevity

WASHINGTON: Seniors tend to live longer and enjoy better health if their homes are close to a park or nature, regardless of social or economic status

Coolege students do better on cognitive tests when their dorm windows view natural settings. Children with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have fewer symptoms after outdoor activities in lush environments.

These are only a few of the findings from recent studies that support the idea that nature is essential to the physical, psychological and social well-being of the human animal, said Frances Kuo, professor of natural resources and psychology at University of Illinois (U-I).

Humans living in landscapes that lack trees or other natural features undergo patterns of social, psychological and physical breakdown that are strikingly similar to those observed in other animals that have been deprived of their natural habitat, Kuo said.

"Now, as human societies become more urban, we as scientists are in a position to look at humans in much the same way that those who study animal behavior have looked at animals in the wild to see the effect of a changing habitat on this species," said Kuo.

"In animals what you see is increases in aggression, you see disrupted parenting patterns, their social hierarchies are disrupted," she said.

Considerable research has found that violence and aggression are highest in urban settings devoid of trees and grass, for example, said a U-I release.

In a 2001 study of the Robert Taylor Homes (recently demolished), Kuo and her colleague, U-I landscape   architecture professor William Sullivan, found that those who lived in housing units with no immediate view of or access to nature reported a greater number of aggressive - including violent - conflicts with partners or children than their peers who lived near trees and grass.

Kuo will present her own and other findings at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.

 

Full-page advertisement placed in a Redding, California paper recently by a group of concerned citizens

Newborn baby 'thrown out with the trash ALIVE after botched abortion'

By Mail Foreign Service

Last updated at 4:30 PM on 06th February 2009

A young mother has accused a Florida clinic of botching her abortion, allowing her child to be born alive - then putting the baby into a plastic bag and throwing her out with the trash.

Now Sycloria Williams is suing Dr Pierre Jean-Jacque Renelique and the abortion clinic's owners in a case that has shocked both sides of the abortion debate.

Aged 18, Ms Williams went to an abortion clinic outside Miami and paid $1,200 for Dr Renelique to terminate her 23-week pregnancy.

 

Picture posed by model. A Florida doctor is being sued after a botched abortion which saw a newborn infant allegedly thrown out alive with the trash

Three days later, she sat in a reclining chair, medicated and ready for the procedure.

But Dr Renelique did not arrive in time - and, according to Williams and the Florida Department of Health, she went into labour and delivered a live baby girl.

Then, Ms Williams and the Department of Health claim, one of the clinic's owners - who has no medical licence - cut the infant's umbilical cord.

Ms Williams says the woman placed the baby in a plastic bio-hazard bag and threw it out.

Police recovered the decomposing remains in a cardboard box a week later after getting anonymous tips.

An autopsy revealed air in the baby girl's lungs - proving that she was born alive and breathing.

'I don't care what your politics are, what your morals are, this should not be happening in our community,' said Tom Pennekamp, a Miami attorney representing Ms Williams in her lawsuit against Dr Renelique and the clinic owners.

The state Board of Medicine is to hear Dr Renelique's case in Tampa today and determine whether to strip his licence.

 

Against all odds: In this iconic image of the abortion debate, the tiny feet of Amillia Taylor, the world's youngest premature baby to ever survive, are seen in the doctor's hand. Amillia was born at just 21 weeks and six days

The state attorney's homicide division is investigating, though no charges have been filed.

Terry Chavez, a spokeswoman with the Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office, said this week that prosecutors were nearing a decision.

Dr Renelique's attorney, Joseph Harrison, called the allegations at best 'misguided and incomplete'. He didn't provide details.

The case has riled the anti-abortion community, which contends the clinic's actions constitute murder.

'The baby was just treated as a piece of garbage,' said Tom Brejcha, president of The Thomas More Society, a law firm that is also representing Ms Williams. 'People all over the country are just aghast.'

Even those who support abortion rights are concerned about the allegations.

'It really disturbed me,' said Joanne Sterner, president of the Broward County chapter of the National Organization for Women, after reviewing the administrative complaint against Dr Renelique.

'I know that there are clinics out there like this. And I hope that we can keep (women) from going to these types of clinics.'

According to state records, Dr Renelique received his medical training at the State University of Haiti. In 1991, he completed a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynaecology at Interfaith Medical Center in New York.

New York records show that Dr Renelique has made at least five medical malpractice payments in the past decade, the circumstances of which were not detailed in the filings.

Several attempts to reach Dr Renelique were unsuccessful. Some of his office numbers were disconnected, no home number could be found and he did not return messages left with his attorney.

Ms Williams struggled with the decision to have an abortion, Pennekamp said. She declined an interview request made through him.

She concluded she didn't have the resources or maturity to raise a child, he said, and went to the Miramar Women's Center on July 17, 2006.

Sonograms indicated she was 23 weeks pregnant, according to the Department of Health. She met Dr Renelique at a second clinic two days later.

Dr Renelique gave Ms Williams laminaria, a drug that dilates the cervix, and prescribed three other medications, according to the administrative complaint filed by the Health Department.

She was told to go to yet another clinic, A Gyn Diagnostic Center in Hialeah, where the procedure would be performed the next day, on July 20, 2006.

Ms Williams arrived in the morning and was given more medication.

The Department of Health account continues as follows: Just before noon she began to feel ill. The clinic contacted Dr Renelique. Two hours later, he still hadn't shown up. Williams went into labour and delivered the baby.

'She came face to face with a human being,' Pennekamp said. 'And that changed everything.'

The complaint says one of the clinic owners, Belkis Gonzalez came in and cut the umbilical cord with scissors, then placed the baby in a plastic bag, and the bag in a trash can.

Ms Williams' lawsuit offers a cruder account: She says Ms Gonzalez knocked the baby off the recliner chair where she had given birth, onto the floor.

The baby's umbilical cord was not clamped, allowing her to bleed out.

Ms Gonzalez scooped the baby, placenta and afterbirth into a red plastic bio-hazard bag and threw it out.

No working telephone number could be found for Ms Gonzalez, and an attorney who has represented the clinic in the past did not return a message.

At 23 weeks, an otherwise healthy foetus would have a slim but legitimate chance of survival. Quadruplets born at 23 weeks last year at The Nebraska Medical Center survived.

An autopsy determined Williams' baby — she named her Shanice — had filled her lungs with air, meaning she had been born alive, according to the Department of Health. The cause of death was listed as extreme prematurity.

The Department of Health believes Dr Renelique committed malpractice by failing to ensure that licensed personnel would be present when Ms Williams was there, among other missteps.

The department wants the Board of Medicine, a separate agency, to permanently revoke Dr Renelique's license, among other penalties. His license is currently restricted, permitting him to only perform abortions when another licensed physician is present and can review his medical records.

Should prosecutors file murder charges, they'd have to prove the baby was born alive, said Robert Batey, a professor of criminal law at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport.

The defence might contend that the child would have died anyway, but most courts would not allow that argument, he said.

'Hastening the death of an individual who is terminally ill is still considered causing the death of that individual,' Mr Batey said. 'And I think a court would rule similarly in this type of case.'

Vedic Perspective

SB 6.16.14 P   King Citraketu Meets the Supreme Lord

In this verse the word bala-hatya-hata-prabhah is to be particularly noted. The practice of killing children has existed in human society for a long time--since time immemorial--but in the days of yore it was very rarely performed. At the present moment, however, in this age of Kali, abortion--killing of the child within the womb--has become very common, and sometimes a child is even killed after birth. If a woman performs such an abominable act, she gradually loses all her bodily luster (bala-hatya-hata-prabhah). It is also to be noted that the ladies who had committed the sinful act of administering poison to the child were very much ashamed, and according to the directions of the brahmanas, they had to undergo atonement for killing the child. Any woman who has ever performed such an infamously sinful act must atone for it, but no one now is doing that. Under the circumstances, the women responsible must suffer in this life and the next. Those who are sincere souls, after hearing this incident, should refrain from such child-killing and should atone for their sinful activities by taking to Krsna consciousness very seriously. If one chants the Hare Krsna maha-mantra without offenses, all of one's sinful actions are surely atoned for immediately, but one should not commit such deeds again, for that is an offense.

China fights drought with chemical cloud-seeding

By JOE McDONALD (Associated Press Writer)

February 08, 2009 10:20 AM EST

BEIJING - Parts of China's parched north got light rain after authorities fired shells loaded with cloud-seeding chemicals into the sky, but there was no end in sight for its worst drought in five decades, the government said Sunday.

Beijing has declared an emergency across China's north, where 4.4 million people lack adequate drinking water and winter wheat crops are withering.

"The drought situation will not be eased in the near future," said a national weather bureau statement.

Some areas got a sprinkling of rain and sleet Saturday and Sunday after clouds were hit with 2,392 rockets and 409 cannon shells loaded with chemicals, the weather bureau said. It said clouds were thin and moving out of the region, making conditions poor for more rainmaking.

Rainfall in northern and central China is 50 percent to 80 percent below normal, according to the Flood Control and Drought Relief Office. The official Xinhua News Agency said the drought that started in November threatens up to half the wheat crop in eight provinces - Hebei, Shanxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi and Gansu.

On Saturday, one county in Shaanxi got 0.9 inches (23 millimeters) of precipitation, while other areas received less than 0.2 inches (5 millimeters), the weather bureau said. On Sunday, about 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) fell.

The state television midday news Sunday showed farmers with parched wheat seedlings that were barely ankle-high.

Beijing has promised 86.7 billion yuan ($12.6 billion) in aid to struggling farmers. That will add to the strain on government finances as it carries out a multibillion-dollar stimulus package to boost slowing economic growth.

Premier Wen Jiabao inspected drought relief work in Henan over the weekend and said ensuring a good harvest was critical to the success of the stimulus, the Xinhua News Agency and state television reported.

Wen visited a village where soldiers and police were helping farmers irrigate crops with water from a tank truck. The premier was shown using a hose to water a field and talking to farmers.

"This is an extremely big drought. It is a test of our party committees, government and leaders at all levels," Xinhua quoted Wen as telling local leaders.

Rural hardship is politically sensitive at a time when 20 million migrants have returned home after losing jobs because of the economic slump. The communist government is trying to curb the potential for unrest by pressing companies to avoid more layoffs.

The Agriculture Ministry said the drought also is to blame for an outbreak of a fungal disease called stripe rust that attacks wheat. It said the disease can cut output by up to 40 percent.

Water Resources Minister Chen Lei said water levels in the Yellow River, a key source for farms and a string of cities, are down 20 percent to 40 percent, the Communist Party newspaper People's Daily reported.

Across eight provinces, irrigation has brought water to about half the 11 million hectares (26.5 million acres) of drought-affected wheat crops, the Agriculture Ministry said Sunday on its Web site.

Vedic Perspective

770127r2.bhu
Prabhupada: So we have to challenge them like that. And as soon as you challenge, "Yes, wait millions of years." That's all.
Satsvarupa: They say, "Actually we are working on that, how to make rain."
Prabhupada: Hm?
Satsvarupa: They'll say, "Yes, actually we are working on that problem of making rain."
Prabhupada: What is the working? People are suffering; you are working. There is a Bengali proverb, sate kusti dolpe gelun.(?) There was a big fair. One has to go there. So he began to dress himself nicely. So the time occupied for dressing, in the meantime the fair was finished. (laughs) Sate kusti kolpe gelun.(?) These are practical. You need immediately water. These rascals say, "Yes, wait. Wait for future."
Satsvarupa: "Wait and give us billions of dollars. Research."
Prabhupada: Yes, yes. Why shall I wait? Immediately necessary. You have no such power to evaporate the water and make into cloud and distribute. Very easily it is being done. Then why don't you accept somebody's doing that?
Satsvarupa: If a scientist will accept there is God, then there is no harm in making scientific progress.
Prabhupada: Then they will hear the words of God, Bhagavad-gita. Then everything will be solved. Yajnad bhavati parjanyah. Then he will hear. They will chant Hare Krsna and there will be rain.

Italian President slams racist attack on Indian

LONDON/ROME: The Italian president has called for a stop to xenophobia and racist violence as outrage grew after an Indian man was beaten and set on

fire near Rome.

Navtej Singh Sidhu, a 35-year-old homeless construction worker, was Wednesday fighting for his life after being attacked while sleeping rough at a train station at the seaside town of Nettuno near Rome Sunday.

Police have arrested two adults and a minor, who have confessed to pouring petrol on him and setting him on fire.

President Giorgio Napolitano condemned the attack, saying it was one of many such "horrifying episodes" seen in Italy.

"By now, these cannot be considered as isolated events but as alarming symptoms of a widespread trend that is unfortunately growing," he said.

"I appeal strongly to those who have institutional, cultural and educational responsibility to commit themselves fully to putting a stop to any display of xenophobia, racism and violence."

Police said the three men admitted they had attacked the Indian immigrant in order to "cap off" a night on the town, fuelled by drugs and alcohol, by doing something "sensational, to experience an intense emotion", the Italian news agency ANSA reported.

Italy has seen a string of racist attacks over the last year, including the burning of gypsy camps in Naples in May and the killing of an immigrant from Burkina Faso in September in Milan.

A Chinese immigrant was beaten up by teenagers while waiting for a bus in Rome in October and a young student from Ghana was beaten by Parma traffic police who mistook him for a drugs pusher.

Meanwhile, Italian Jewish leaders expressed solidarity with Sidhu.

"When we [Jews] are the object of hostile acts, we receive support from all sides, and we want to do the same in this case," said Rome's Jewish community president, Riccardo Pacifici.

"We feel a vital part of Italy and join in protest with everyone against such actions," said Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni.

Sidhu has severe burns on more than 40 percent of his body, said Dr. Paolo Palombo of Sant'Eugenio hospital in Rome.

Indian diplomats in Rome, who have spoken to Sidhu, say his condition remains critical and that he will be operated upon Friday.

Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno visited Sidhu in hospital and assured Indian diplomats he would receive the best possible treatment.

Vedic Perspective

Srimad-Bhagavatam

6.1.49 Purport by Srila Prabhupada

 A man engages in sinful activities because he does not know what he did in his past life to get his present materially conditioned body, which is subjected to the threefold miseries. As stated by Rsabhadeva in Srimad-Bhagavatam (5.5.4), nunam pramattah kurute vikarma: a human being who is mad after sense gratification does not hesitate to act sinfully. Yad indriya-pritaya aprnoti: he performs sinful actions simply for sense gratification. Na sadhu manye: this is not good. Yata atmano 'yam asann api klesada asa dehah: because of such sinful actions, one receives another body in which to suffer as he is suffering in his present body because of his past sinful activities.
   It should be understood that a person who does not have Vedic knowledge always acts in ignorance of what he has done in the past, what he is doing at the present and how he will suffer in the future. He is completely in darkness. Therefore the Vedic injunction is, tamasi ma: "Don't remain in darkness." Jyotir gama: "Try to go to the light." The light or illumination is Vedic knowledge, which one can understand when he is elevated to the mode of goodness or when he transcends the mode of goodness by engaging in devotional service to the spiritual master and the Supreme Lord.

US accused of threatening Britain over terrorism 'torture evidence'

The US Government has threatened to halt intelligence co-operation with Britain in a row over the alleged torture of a 'terrorism' detainee at Guantanamo Bay being made public.

By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor(Telegraph.co.uk)

Last Updated: 4:54PM GMT 04 Feb 2009

Binyam Mohamed, a British resident held at the American base, has launched a legal challenge in the High Court in London for documents detailing his treatment to be made public.

However, two judges ruling on the case said that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, had advised that releasing the documents could lead to America withdrawing intelligence co-operation.

This, it was warned, could lead to Britons facing a “very considerable increase in the dangers they face” from terrorism.

The judges reveal that the secret documents at the centre of the case “give rise to an arguable case of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”. It is also disclosed that a British intelligence official may have been present when Mr Mohamed alleges he was tortured. The judgement raises the prospect of criminal charges being brought against British officials.

Mr Mohamed, who was born in Ethiopia, sought political asylum in Britain in 1994 and was granted leave to remain in this country. He was captured in Pakistan in 2002 while attempting to return to London on a false British passport.

The Muslim convert was initially questioned by MI5 before being passed to the Americans. He was then held “incommunicado, initially in Pakistan and then at secret and undisclosed locations until May 2004”. He claims he was subjected to “extraordinary rendition to Morocco where torture continued in a severe form”.

Between May and September 2004, Mr Mohamed made confessions to his involvement with Al-Qaida and plotting terrorist attacks. He was initially charged with terrorist offences, including a dirty bomb plot, although the charges have now been dropped.

He has been on hunger strike for much of the past month and is expected to be released shortly and returned to Britain.

Today’s judgement reveals that the High Court was minded to release the information – provided by both the American and British Governments – describing his treatment since being captured.

But, the judges said that in the opinion of the Foreign Secretary there is a real risk that, if the redacted paragraphs were restored, then "the US Government, by its review of the shared intelligence arrangements, could inflict on the citizens of the United Kingdom a very considerable increase in the dangers they face at a time when a serious terrorist threat still pertains".

They said they had to find a balance

between national security on the one hand and the public interest in open justice, safeguarding the rule of law, free speech and democratic accountability.

"In the circumstances now prevailing, the balance is served by maintaining the redaction of the paragraphs from our first judgment," they said.

"In short, whatever views may be held as to the continuing threat made by the US Government to prevent a short summary of the treatment of Mohamed being put into the public domain by this court, it would not, in all the circumstances we have set out and in the light of the action taken, be in the public interest to expose the UK to what the Foreign Secretary still considers to be the real risk of the loss of intelligence so vital to the safety of our day-to-day life."

It was also revealed that Mr Miliband had recently checked and that Barack Obama’s administration was standing by the threat.

Vedic Perspective 

The Real Peace Formula by Srila Prabhupada

   Every living entity is searching after peace. That is the struggle for existence. Everyone, from the aquatics to the highest form of human being--from the ant up to Brahma, the first creature of this universe--is searching for peace. That is the main objective. Lord Caitanya said that a person who is in full Krsna consciousness is the only peaceful man because he has no demands. That is the special qualification of a person who is in Krsna consciousness. He is akamah. Akamah refers to those who have no desire, who are self-sufficient, who have nothing to ask and who are fully peaceful. Who are they? They are the devotees who are situated in Krsna consciousness.
   All others fall into three classes. One class is bhukti, those who are hankering after material happiness and enjoyment. These people want to eat, drink, be merry and enjoy. There are different modes of enjoyment according to the body. People are searching after sense enjoyment on this planet, on other planets, here, there and everywhere. Their main object is to gratify the senses. That is called bhukti. The next class is those people who are fatigued or frustrated in sense gratification and therefore want liberation from this material entanglement. And then there are those who, in search of knowledge, speculate about what the Absolute Truth is. Thus there are some who want sense enjoyment, and others, the salvationists, who are seeking liberation. The salvationists also have some desire, the desire to be free from this material entanglement. Then there are those who are yogis; they are searching after mystic perfection. There are eight kinds of mystic perfection which grant the ability to become the smallest, to become the heaviest, or to get whatever one desires. Ordinary persons who are after sense gratification and those who are salvationists or who are after mystic perfection all have some demand. But what about the devotees? They have no demands. Because they simply want to serve Krsna, they are waiting for the order of Krsna, and that is their satisfaction. If Krsna wants the devotees to go to hell, they are prepared to go to hell. And if Krsna says, "You come to Me," they are prepared to go. They have no demands. This is the perfectional stage.
   There is a very nice verse in which a devotee prays: "I shall simply be conscious of You, my dear Lord, Krsna conscious, free from all mental demands." Actually, because we are in material bondage, we have many demands. Some people want sense gratification, those who are a little more elevated want mental satisfaction, and those who are still more refined want to show some magic jugglery of power in this world. They are all in material bondage in different capacities. Therefore, a person who is Krsna conscious prays to the Lord: "My dear Lord, when shall I be fully absorbed in Your thoughts or Your service?" "Your thoughts" are not simply abstract, concocted speculation; it is a practical mode of thought. "I shall become peaceful." All mental concoction--I want this, I want that--will be completely eradicated.
   We are hovering over the mental plane. We have given power of attorney to the mind, and the mind is driving us--"Come here, go there." One has to stop such nonsense. "I shall simply be Your eternal servitor. And I shall be very cheerful, for I have my master." All others who are not in Krsna consciousness are guideless. They are their own guides. The person who is Krsna conscious has the supreme guide; therefore, he has no fear. For example, as long as a child is under the care of his parents he has no fear. But as soon as he becomes free, he finds many impediments. This is a crude example, but similarly, when one becomes completely free from all mental concoction and engages one hundred percent in Krsna consciousness twenty-four hours a day, he will be peaceful at once. That is peace.
   Therefore, Caitanya Mahaprabhu says that those who are Krsna conscious, because they have no demands, are actually peaceful. Those who are after sense enjoyment, salvation and yogic mystic perfection are always full of anxiety. As long as one is full of anxiety, one should know that he is still under the grip of material nature. And as soon as one is free from all anxiety, one should know that he is liberated. This fearful anxiety exists because we do not know Krsna, the Supreme Lord, the supreme controller. Instead, we have other conceptions, and therefore we are always anxious.
   There are many examples, such as Prahlada Maharaja. He was only five years old, a pet child, but because he was a devotee of the Lord, his father became his enemy. This is the way of the world. As soon as one becomes a devotee of the Lord he finds so many obstacles. But those obstacles will not hinder one or be impediments on the path. We should always be personally prepared to become Krsna conscious. Otherwise, there is only the kingdom of maya, illusion. Maya will try to defeat us as soon as she sees, "Oh, here is a living soul going out of my grip." As soon as one becomes Krsna conscious and fully surrenders unto the Supreme Lord, he has nothing more to fear from this illusion. The Krsna conscious person is the perfectly peaceful person.
   Everyone wants peace in the world. The peace marchers do not know how to obtain peace, but they want peace. I read a speech of the Archbishop of Canterbury in which he said, "You want the kingdom of God without God." This is our defect. If you want peace at all, then accept that peace means to understand God. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gita. Unless you are in touch with the Supreme Lord, Krsna, you cannot have peace. Therefore, we have a different peace formula. The real peace formula is that one must know that God is the proprietor of all this universe, including the United States of America. He is the proprietor of Russia, He is the proprietor of China, He is the proprietor of India, of everything. But because we claim that we are the proprietors, there is fighting, there is discord, there is disagreement, and how can there be peace?
   First of all, one has to accept that God is the proprietor of everything. We are simply guests for fifty or a hundred years. We come and go, and while one is here, he is absorbed in this thought: "This is my land. This is my family. This is my body. This is my property." And when there is an order from the Supreme for one to leave his home, his property, his body, his family, his money and his bank balance and it is all gone, one has to take another place. We are under the grip of material nature, and she is offering different kinds of bodies: "Now, my dear sir, you accept this body." We accept an American body, an Indian body, a Chinese body, a cat's body or a dog's body. I am not the proprietor even of this body, yet I say that I am this body. Actually, this is ignorance. And how can one have peace? Peace can be had when one understands that God is the proprietor of everything. One's friends, one's mother, one's mother's father and the President are all guests of time. When this knowledge is accepted, then there will be peace.
   We are searching for a friend to give us peace and tranquillity. That friend is Krsna, God. Just make friendship with Him; you'll find everyone to be your friend. Because God is situated in everyone's heart, if you make friendship with God, He will dictate from within so that you will also be treated in a friendly way. If you make friendship with the police commissioner, you receive some advantage. If you make friendship with President Nixon, everyone will be your friend because everyone is under the President. If you want something from any officer, simply call President Nixon, and he will say, "All right, look after this man." Everything is taken care of. Just try to have friendship with God, and everyone will be your friend. If all people understand this very nice fact, that God is everyone's friend and that He is the supreme proprietor, they will become peaceful. That is explained also by Lord Caitanya.
   In Bhagavad-gita, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Caitanya-caritamrta, or any Vedic literature or any other literature in any other religion, the same fact is presented: God is the proprietor. God is the only friend. If you understand this, then you'll have peace. This is the peace formula. As soon as you encroach on God's property, calling it your own, material nature, the police action, will be there: "You are not the proprietor." You can simply have what is allotted to you by God.
   Your business is to elevate yourself to perfect Krsna consciousness and nothing more. If you deviate from this law, if you don't accept this principle, if you want to enjoy more, then you have to suffer more. There is no question of forgetting. Therefore, Lord Caitanya says, "One who is Krsna conscious has no demands. Thus he is at peace."
   Those in Krsna consciousness do not know anything more than Krsna. Actually only those who are Krsna conscious are peaceful, unafraid of anything. They are neither in heaven nor in hell nor anywhere but with Krsna, so for them everything is Vaikuntha, without fear. Similarly, Lord Krsna as Paramatma, Supersoul, lives everywhere. He lives in the heart of a hog also. The hog eats stool, but that does not mean that because the Supreme Lord is in the heart of the hog, He is also subjected to such punishment. The Lord and His devotees are always transcendental to the modes of material nature. Persons who are completely Krsna conscious are very rare and very peaceful. Out of millions and millions of people, it is very difficult to find one who is actually Krsna conscious; this position of Krsna consciousness is so rare. But Krsna Himself, as Lord Caitanya, seeing the pitiable condition of the present day, is directly giving free love of Godhead.
   Yet because love of God is being given freely and so easily, people do not care for it. My spiritual master used to say that if you take a langera mango, which is a first-class, topmost quality mango in India, very costly, very sweet and very tasteful, and go from door to door and try to distribute it freely, people will doubt: "Why has this man brought this langera mango? Why is he trying to distribute it freely? There must be some motive behind it." Similarly, Lord Caitanya distributed this Krsna consciousness langera mango very cheaply, but people are so foolish that they think, "Oh, they are simply chanting Hare Krsna; what is there to it? This is meant for the foolish, who cannot speculate and do not have any higher standard of knowledge." But that is not so. It is said: "Out of millions and millions of people, only a few are interested in Krsna consciousness." Do not neglect this information; it is very rare, and if you practice Krsna consciousness, your life will be successful. Your mission in human life will be fulfilled. This seed of Krsna consciousness is very rare and very valuable. Lord Caitanya said that innumerable living entities are wandering and transmigrating in the 8,400,000 species of life, one after another. Out of so many, one may come who is fortunate, who has spiritual fortune.
   Sometimes devotees of the Lord go from door to door. Their policy is to go as beggars. So in India, beggars, especially sannyasis, are very much respected. If a sannyasi comes to a house to beg, he is very well received: "Swamiji, what can I do for you?" The devotee beggar won't ask for anything, but whatever one can give, even one capati, makes one spiritually rich. That man who offers a capati to a pure devotee who comes to his door is made spiritually rich. When one is advanced in spiritual wealth, he offers a good reception to devotees as far as possible. According to the Vedic system, even if your enemy comes to your house, you have to receive him in such a way that you will forget that he is your enemy. That is the general system for receiving a pure devotee who has sacrificed everything for the Lord.
   These are instructions for householders. The householder should come out of his home during noontime and call out for anyone who is hungry to please come and take the food. Only if no one comes in answer to his call can the chief of the household take his meals. There are so many rules and regulations just to train a man to become godly. They are not superstitious or superfluous. The human being should be trained to be godly. Because he is part and parcel of God, he is given the chance to be trained. This training is given because some day or other the person may be Krsna conscious.
   If by chance during this training he meets a teacher who is a saintly person and a pure devotee of the Lord, then by such a contact he becomes pure. Therefore, Lord Caitanya said that the fortunate person who has had some spiritual asset in his past dealings will seek the association of a pure devotee. The seed of Krsna consciousness is received by the mercy of guru, the spiritual master, and by the mercy of Krsna. When the spiritual master and Lord Krsna will that a person must have Krsna consciousness, then the seed very nicely fructifies. That spiritual asset makes one fortunate, and thus he becomes spiritually enlivened, and then he meets a bona fide spiritual master, and, by the grace of the spiritual master, he can receive the seed of Krsna consciousness. That is his inner urge: "Where can I get this association? Where can I get this awareness?"
   This process is recommended; it is the general process of spiritual advancement. Krsna is within you, and as soon as Krsna sees that you are very sincere, that you are seeking, He sends a bona fide spiritual master. This combination of Krsna and the spiritual master is the cause of one's receiving the seed of Krsna consciousness. The seed is there. If you have a very nice seed of a rose bush, what is your duty? If you have a seed of any nice plant, it is your duty not to lock it up in the safety vault of a bank. Your duty is to sow it in the ground. Where should you sow that seed? If you have information of Krsna consciousness, you just sow it in your heart. Not in this earth, but in the earth within yourself. And after sowing a seed you have to pour a little water on it, so that water is hearing and chanting. Once the seed is sown in the heart, just pour on a little water, and it will grow.
   This process should not be stopped by the thought that because one is initiated there is no need of hearing and chanting. It should go on continuously. If you stop pouring water on a plant, it will dry up, it will not produce any fruit. Similarly, even if you are highly elevated in Krsna consciousness, you cannot stop this process of hearing and chanting because maya is so strong, so powerful, that as soon as she sees, "Ah, here is an opportunity," at once you will dry up. By the process of pouring water, that plant of Krsna consciousness grows. How does it grow? There is a limit to every plant you see; it grows and grows and grows, but there is a limit where it stops growing. But the plant of Krsna consciousness grows in such a way that it does not rest in any part of this material universe because a Krsna conscious person is not satisfied with planetary facilities in any part of this material universe. Even if you offer him Siddhaloka, where the inhabitants are so powerful and elevated that they can fly in the sky without airplanes, he will not be satisfied.
   There is a planet, Siddhaloka, according to Srimad-Bhagavatam, where the inhabitants do not need airplanes or spacecraft to fly from one planet to another. Above Siddhaloka there are many other planets. I saw that the latest modern opinion is that every star is a sun, and there are different planetary systems, solar systems; but according to Vedic literature there are innumerable universes which are separate identities. The limit of this universe is the outermost sky. The modern scientist says that each and every star is a sun. But Vedic literature does not say that. Vedic literature informs us that there is only one sun in each universe, but there are innumerable universes, and thus there are innumerable suns and moons. The highest planet of this universe is called Brahmaloka. And Lord Krsna says, "Even if you approach the highest planet, you have to come back again." Sputniks and astronauts are going very high, and here on earth people are clapping; but after just a brief time they come down again. However one may clap, he cannot do more than that. Similarly, those who are materialistic can go high up to Brahmaloka where Brahma is, but those who are Krsna conscious will reject even that. They neglect even the impersonal brahmajyoti. They don't care for it.
   The covering of this universe is far, far greater than this space which we are now in. The outside of the universe is ten times the space within, so one has to penetrate that covering, and then reach Viraja, the Causal Ocean. The Buddhist philosophical perfection is to reach that Viraja. When this material existence is completely finished, it is called viraja, according to Vedic language. But the Krsna conscious person not only penetrates the covering of this universe, but after he reaches that Causal Ocean, which is the neutral position, he continues. The plant grows so nicely from Brahmaloka to Viraja to the spiritual sky, and even when that plant reaches the spiritual sky, it is not satisfied with any Vaikuntha planet.
   The highest planet in the spiritual sky is Krsnaloka. It is just like a lotus flower, where Krsna is standing. And there, when the plant finds Krsna's lotus feet, it rests. Just as a creeper grows and grows and grows and at last attaches itself to something and then expands, when the devotional plant gets to the lotus feet of Krsna, it expands. As soon as this Krsna consciousness creeper captures Krsna's lotus feet, it takes shelter. "There. Now I have finished my journey. Let me expand here." To expand means to enjoy Krsna's association. There the devotees are satisfied.
   That creeper has to go on, and thus those who are already in Krsna consciousness, if they have their natural growth, relish the fruit of that creeper even in this life.
   If you continue this chanting and hearing process, you will grow and grow and actually reach Krsna's lotus feet and there relish His association.

Shoe: man charged for throwing shoe at Chinese Prime Minister

Telegraph.co.uk 2:42PM GMT 03 Feb 2009

The man, who has not been named, had been charged with a public order offence and will appear in court in Cambridge on February 10, a police spokeswoman said.

He is alleged to have disrupted a lecture given by Mr Wen at Cambridge University on Monday.

Onlookers said a shoe was thrown from the audience and landed several yards away from the Chinese leader.

The protestor screamed: "This is a scandal."

He was then bundled out of the concert hall by university security staff.

As he was dragged out he shouted: "How can the university prostitute itself with this dictator?"

Mr Wen hesitated for a few moments in his speech before continuing.

He said: "This despicable behaviour cannot stand in the way of friendship between China and the UK."

He received a round of applause from the audience, who were apparently mostly Chinese students.

Police said a man was arrested shortly after the incident and charged last night.

Mr Wen had been asked to speak to an invited audience by Cambridge University.

Police mounted a large security operation and protesters raising concerns about Chinese policy in Tibet and human rights in China were kept well away from the premier as he arrived.

A demonstrator threw an egg when the premier arrived for an engagement in London at the weekend and police said they did not want any repeat of such attacks

But demonstrators complained that the police operation was "over the top" and designed to keep them out of Mr Wen's view.

The insult mimicked that of an Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoe at George Bush while the American President was speaking in Baghdad.

Vedic Perspective 

Srimad-Bhagavatam

Krsna appears in this world for two purposes, paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam: to protect the innocent, religious devotees of the Lord and to annihilate all the uneducated, uncultured asuras(demons), who unnecessarily bark like dogs and fight among themselves for political power. It is said, kali-kale nama-rupe krsna avatara. The Hare Krsna movement is also an incarnation of Krsna in the form of the holy name (nama-rupe). Every one of us who is actually afraid of the asuric(demonic) rulers and politicians must welcome this incarnation of Krsna: Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Then we will surely be protected from the harassment of asuric rulers. At the present moment these rulers are so powerful that by hook or by crook they capture the highest posts in government and harass countless numbers of people on the plea of national security or some emergency. Then again, one asura defeats another asura, but the public continues to suffer. Therefore the entire world is in a precarious condition, and the only hope is this Hare Krsna movement. Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared when Prahlada was excessively harassed by his asuric father. Because of such asuric fathers--that is, the ruling politicians--it is very difficult to press forward the Hare Krsna movement, but because Krsna has now appeared in His holy name through this movement, we can hope that these asuric fathers will be annihilated and the kingdom of God established all over the world. The entire world is now full of many asuras in the guise of politicians, gurus, sadhus, yogis and incarnations, and they are misleading the general public away from Krsna consciousness, which can offer true benefit to human society.

{Srimad-Bhagavatam 10.3.21}

Protester hurls shoe at Chinese PM during UK visit

By MARTIN BENEDYK (Associated Press Writer)

From Associated Press

February 02, 2009 10:41 PM EST

CAMBRIDGE, England - A protester hurled abuse and then a shoe at China's premier Monday while he delivered a speech on the global economy at Cambridge University at the end of his trip to Britain.

The protester leapt up from his seat near the back of a crowded auditorium, blew a whistle and yelled that Premier Wen Jiabao was a "dictator" before throwing the shoe toward the stage.

"How can this university prostitute itself with this dictator here, how can you listen ... to him unchallenged," the man shouted.

Like the now-famous incident when an Iraqi reporter threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush in December, the gray athletic shoe missed its intended target.

Unlike Bush, Wen, who was standing on a stage behind a podium, did not need to duck. He merely paused for a few seconds before he continued with his speech. One of his aides quietly stepped on to the stage, picked up the shoe and took it away.

Security staff escorted the protester out of the auditorium. He was arrested and taken to a police station for questioning on suspicion of committing a public order offense, said police spokeswoman Shelly Spratt.

"The university is a place for discussion, debate and considered argument, not for shoe throwing," said Tim Holt, a university spokesman.

The shoe-throwing incident came at the end of a three-day visit dogged by demonstrations over human rights and Chinese policy in Tibet. Security was tight at the university and police kept a group of about 20 demonstrators away from the premier when he arrived for his speech.

Shoe throwing has become a globally recognized form of protest since the case involving Bush. Iraqi reporter Muntadhar al-Zeidi was scheduled to face trial in December on a charge of assaulting a foreign leader, but the court date was postponed after his attorney filed a motion to reduce the charges. He remains in custody in Baghdad.(end story)

Vedic Perspective 

Srimad-Bhagavatam

The presidents and chief executives in the age of Kali are simply tax collectors who do not care whether religious principles are observed...Srimad-Bhagavatam predicts that in Kali-yuga the government will be entrusted with dasyu-dharma, which means the occupational duty of rogues and thieves. Modern heads of state are rogues and thieves who plunder the citizens instead of giving them protection. Rogues and thieves plunder without regard for law, but in this age of Kali, as stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam, the lawmakers themselves plunder the citizens. The next prediction to be fulfilled, which is already coming to pass, is that because of the sinful activities of the citizens and the government, rain will become increasingly scarce. Gradually there will be complete drought and no production of food grains. People will be reduced to eating flesh and seeds, and many good, spiritually inclined people will have to forsake their homes because they will be too harassed by drought, taxation and famine. {Srimad-Bhagavatam  5.2.1}